John Peter Huchra (/ˈhʌkrə/HUK-rə; December 23, 1948 – October 8, 2010[1]) was an American astronomer and professor. He was the Vice Provost for Research Policy at Harvard University and a Professor of Astronomy at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.[2] He was also a former chair of the United States National Committee for the International Astronomical Union.[2] and past president of the American Astronomical Society.[3][4]
Huchra was born on December 23, 1948, in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a father who was a train conductor and a mother who was a housewife. He was raised in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey and graduated from Ridgefield Park High School as part of the class of 1966.[5] He developed an interest in reading books about cosmology and science fiction. He was a member of the wrestling team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1970 with a major in physics. He went on to the California Institute of Technology, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in astronomy. He took on a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in 1976 and remained there for the rest of his career.[6]
Together with fellow astronomers Marc Aaronson and Jeremy Mould, Huchra announced that based on their analysis of the brightness and rotational speed of certain spiral galaxies that the universe was nine billion years old, half the age that most astronomers had previously thought.[6]
In 1986, Valérie de Lapparent, Margaret Geller and Huchra published the surprisingly non-uniform distribution of galaxies at scales of several tens of megaparsecs from early results of the CfA Redshift Survey.[7] De Lapparent, Geller and Huchra described the galaxy distribution as apparently lying on the "surfaces of bubble-like structures".[7] In 1989, using later results from their redshift survey, Geller and Huchra discovered the Great Wall, a structure measuring 600 million light years in length and 250 million light years in width.[8][9][10][11][12] This is the second largest known super-structure in the universe.
The gravitational lensing galaxy in front of the so-called Einstein Cross quasar was discovered by Huchra and coworkers and has been called Huchra's Lens.[13][14]
^Obituary, Boston.com
^ abWelcome to John Huchra's Website, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
^Moran, J. M. (2011). "John Peter Huchra". Physics Today. 64 (10): 66. Bibcode:2011PhT....64j..66M. doi:10.1063/PT.3.1305.
^Dr. John P. Huchra, Class of 1966, Ridgefield Park Junior-Senior High School Alumni Foundation. Accessed November 15, 2017. "Dr. Huchra, after receiving his diploma at Ridgefield Park High School went on to receive his B.S. degree in Physics at M.I.T. in 1970, and his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Cal Tech in 1976."
^ abOverbye, Dennis. "John Huchra Dies at 61; Maps Altered Ideas on Universe", The New York Times, October 13, 2010. Accessed October 14, 2010.
^ abDe Lapparent, V.; Geller, M. J.; Huchra, J. P. (1986). "A slice of the universe". The Astrophysical Journal. 302: L1. Bibcode:1986ApJ...302L...1D. doi:10.1086/184625.
^Frontline, Jan 1, 2010, "In 1989, Margaret Geller and John Huchra, on the basis of redshift survey data, discovered the presence of the Great (Galactic) Wall..."
^Booth, William (November 18, 1989). "Vast Sheet of Galaxies Found In the Far Reaches of Space;'Great Wall' Largest Structure Detected in Universe". Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
^"QUEST – Questions answered". The San Diego Union. September 11, 2002. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
^Charles Choi. That Wall in China Is Nothing, Science, 24 October 2003
^Guth, Alan (1997). The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins - Alan H. Guth - Google Boeken. ISBN 9780201328400. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
^Huchra, J.; et al. (1985). "2237 + 0305: A new and unusual gravitational lens". Astronomical Journal. 90: 691–696. Bibcode:1985AJ.....90..691H. doi:10.1086/113777.
^Harrington, Philip S. (2010-11-30). Cosmic Challenge: The Ultimate Observing List for Amateurs. Cambridge University Press. p. 421. ISBN 978-0-521-89936-9. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
John Peter Huchra (/ˈhʌkrə/ HUK-rə; December 23, 1948 – October 8, 2010) was an American astronomer and professor. He was the Vice Provost for Research...
galaxy due to strong gravitational lensing. This system was discovered by JohnHuchra and coworkers in 1985, although at the time they only detected that there...
1989 by a team of American astronomers led by Margaret J. Geller and JohnHuchra while analyzing data gathered by the second CfA Redshift Survey of the...
than the CfA2 Great Wall of galaxies (discovered by Margaret Geller and JohnHuchra of Harvard University in 1989). It also contains several galactic superclusters...
Freeman, Mount Stromlo/Siding Spring Observatories, Australia 1992 Dr. JohnHuchra, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 1993 Dr. Nick Scoville,...
light-years across. Based on redshift survey data, in 1989 Margaret Geller and JohnHuchra discovered the "Great Wall", a sheet of galaxies more than 500 million...
Sidney van den Bergh. They also named it G1 in 1977. HBK 0-1 is named for JohnHuchra, J. P. Brodie and S. M. Kent in 1991. Astronomy portal Messier 54 Omega...
7 January 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2015. "1989: Margaret Geller and JohnHuchra Map the Universe". Carnegie Institution for Science. Archived from the...
was completed by 1982. The second survey (CfA2) was started in 1985 by JohnHuchra and Margaret Geller and measured the redshifts of 18,000 bright galaxies...
of Cambridge, and how the Moon weighs 80 times less than the Earth; JohnHuchra; physicist Neil Turok of Princeton University and physicist Alan Guth...
"Ken Freeman".[permanent dead link] Overbye, Dennis (13 October 2010). "JohnHuchra". The New York Times. "Dr. Wendy Freedman". Archived from the original...
Edwin Hubble Hubble–Reynolds law – Edwin Hubble and John Henry Reynolds Huchra's Lens – JohnHuchra Humphreys line/series – Curtis J. Humphreys Hund's...
moved to Harvard University to work as a postdoctoral researcher with JohnHuchra on a project to make the most complete map of the local Universe. Masters...
Donald Lynden-Bell Frontline, Jan 1, 2010, "In 1989, Margaret Geller and JohnHuchra, on the basis of redshift survey data, discovered the presence of the...
collaboration with Marc Aaronson. Also in collaboration with Marc Aaronson and JohnHuchra, Mould undertook measurements of the Hubble Constant that would eventually...
ISBN 1-58381-065-X; Bibcode:2001ASPC..232..108C Huchra, John P.; Geller, Margaret J. (17 November 1989). "M. J. Geller & J. P. Huchra, Science 246, 897 (1989)". Science...
Elton John song filtered through the church, Hatton's Ridgefield Park class, members of the Class of '75, wiped away tears." Dr. John P. Huchra, Class...
Stephen E.; Carpenter, John M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Capps, Richard W.; Chester, Thomas; Elias, Jonathan H.; Huchra, John P.; Liebert, James W.; Lonsdale...
S2CID 205240232. cfa.harvard.edu, The Geometry of the Local Supercluster, John P. Huchra, 2007 (accessed 12-12-2008) Shapley, Harlow Of Stars and Men (1959)...
Stephen E.; Carpenter, John M.; Beichman, Charles A.; Capps, Richard W.; Chester, Thomas; Elias, Jonathan H.; Huchra, John P.; Liebert, James W.; Lonsdale...
Carpenter, John M.; Chester, Thomas; Cambresy, Laurent; Evans, Tracey E.; Fowler, John W.; Gizis, John E.; Howard, Elizabeth V.; Huchra, John P.; Jarrett...
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